国际英语新闻:Fuel tank set ablaze as rebels attack oil refinery in Syria

DAMASCUS, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Armed rebels fired mortar shells at a key oil refinery in Syria's central province of Homs Saturday, causing a huge fire at one of the fuel tanks, the state-media said.

The director of Homs Oil Refinery Akram Sultan said that a worker was injured as a fuel tank was set ablaze by a mortar shell launched by "terrorists."

Sultan said that the firefighters have started extinguishing the fire.

Homs Refinery Company, the first refinery in Syria, came into operation in 1959 with a capacity of one million ton per year of light crude oil.

The rebels have targeted several oil and gas pipelines across the country in a bid to paralyze the energy sector of the war-torn country.

Earlier in the day, al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front captured al- Omar oil field in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour during an overnight battle with the government troops, according to activist groups.